Petals on the Wind: Dollanganger, Book 2

I was excited to read this because I really enjoyed Flowers in the Attic, which was a heartbreaking but well-told story. This one was just plain weird. Cathy's romantic relationships are not understandable. Paul and Chris are doormats, and Julian and Bart are abusive. It's hard to root for any of them. The book glosses over rape, both statutory and violent, and the incest makes no sense in this book. While I could completely understand why Chris and Cathy hooked up when they were trapped in the attic together during puberty, Petals on the Wind didn't explain why they continued to have a relationship beyond that time. The story leaps over months and years, almost as if the author just wanted to go ahead and tell us how the story ends instead of letting us patiently see it through. Really, this book could have been three books, had the story been told well. I'm giving it two stars instead of one just because I was eager to see how everything panned out. It did hold my attention even though it left me feeling icky. Also, the Kindle edition has way too many typos.

VC Andrews is my guilty pleasure. It's just so strange that I can't turn away, but I'm embarrassed to admit that I read this stuff. This has to be the weirdest one of the series. Cathy is determined to make her mother pay for imprisoning her and her siblings for nearly 4 years and the murder of her brother. Does she go to the police? No. Does she confront her mother directly? No. Does she try to go back to Foxworth Hall to reek some havoc? Still no, but she does manage to find a rich pedo to take her in, becomes a doormat of a wife to a different pedo, and blames everything from a car accident to dwarfism on her mother. Good times

Guess I should have read the dimensions first, I was hoping based on the cover art being original it would be the orginal size novel, I have a whole book shelf full of them but a few are broken down and worn so I was hoping to replace petals and a few others but to look right on my shelf I want them all the same size. Still going to keep it just on a different shelf, still going to search for more orginal style and size ones to clean up my shelf.My book review is I love it just like all the others, my hatred for mother corrine in this book is so great! *spoiler* losing Carrie who was my favorite (I am also Cari and I love purple with red as a backup too) ripped my heart out. My favorite VC Andrew's series is Casteel Series (heaven) with Cutler series (dawn) as a close second following dollanganger (flowers). Love them so much though ♡

I debated heartily on whether or not to read the second Dollanganger novel. I thought the first was so incredibly brilliant and original that the follow-up novels couldn't match up--but I took a chance and am happy to report I was wrong.Petals picks up where Flowers in the Attic left off and is again in the voice of Cathy, the oldest daughter. Her inner monologue is again quite childish (which did bother me at times, since I felt she never grew up from that young girl I first encountered) but her dialogue and actions did change, so I overlooked it.Her focus in this book is to A. Get over Chris and find a new man to love her how she wants and B. Get revenge on those who harmed her in Flowers. Dreams she and Chris held dear since childhood come true, some of them in ways expected and some with twists; other dreams die cold, ruthless deaths that bring up questions on who is to blame--Corrine, as Cathy so desperately wants to blame her for every dark part of her life or is Cathy to blame because all of her actions are in direct response to her mother's choices so long ago?I've finished the book and am still pondering the question, which is always the mark of an incredible novel for me. If I'm still thinking about it for weeks after (as I did with Flowers) it automatically marks a spot on my favorites shelf.I wasn't sure, going into this book, if it would live up to the first and it does. I wasn't sure if I'd want to continue, still believing they can't all be so amazing, but I plan to give it a try. Though some of the writing does seem childish to me, Andrews makes up for it with lines that beg to be highlighted and returned to again and again. And the end--oh! I can't wait to start Thorns and find out what happens next to these little Dresden Dolls.

The writing style, the authors voice, is perfectly fine and even enjoyable. The story itself, the plot, is terrible. The first book gave so much hope to an interesting life for the kids but the ending of this sequel just left me feeling cheated. There is death in this book but every death is handled poorly except one or two. I think they may be too rushed. I wish I could go into more detail but I don't want to give any spoilers if you did choose to buy this book because you felt you have to steer annoying the first one like I did. Google it for more details if you wish. I definitely will not be buying any other books from this series and I'm very hesitant to buy again from this author.

This is the second book of the "Flowers in the attic" quartet. The 'doll' family have escaped from the attic and are trying to make new lives for themselves. Chris is working towards being a doctor, and Cathie towards being a prima ballerina. Unfortunately, Cathie (particularly) is full of seething resentment and is intent upon revenge and this affects important desicions in her life and also has repercussions on the lives of those around her.While the sequel is not as gripping as the first book in the series, it still has the power to move and shock the reader.

I'm giving this one star because there isn't an option for none. That I finished this book is a minor miracle. My sister read this series of books a few years ago and really enjoyed them. I quite liked Flowers in the attic so I downloaded Petals on the Wind. What happened to the characters? Without wanting to put in any spoilers, the personalities of all the main characters changed dramatically from the first book to the second. Not a single one of the characters had any likeable features. It dragged on and on....... and on. Repetitive, boring and just plain weird in places. Determined to reach the end in the hope that it might improve (it didn't) I guess the end was fairly dramatic but given my lack empathy with any of the characters, I felt neither happy or sad about it, just unbelievably glad that I'd finished. That's the last of the series I'll be reading.

Having read the first book, this one was a must. Its a good read but not as enthralling as the first, got a bit boring in places, found myself skipping paragraphs.

Such a great story. Obviously the original book sets the scene.I’ve read these a few times over the years, and petals in the wind is perfect on filling in the story of Cathy and her family. Great read.

Fairly average read, a few spelling errors which was frustrating. I'm committed to the story now so I will finish all the books in the series.